SOUTHDOWN PROBLEMS?????????

[yznhmr]

Has anyone had southdown problems? Iwould like to hear from anyone that has had their tank up for a decent period of time. I heard some bad things about it , like metals in the sand rusting, it causing algee problems..
I have read most of the posts in the past about SD sand before i bought it ( i have 300 lbs of it waiting to go in my new tank)and it seamed all good.. Opinions please..
Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

Somewhere on this board or RC ther was an "everything you ever wanted to know about southdown" thread.

In the thread, it said the the same company packages both south down and carib sea, with the agreement that southdown will not sell the sand for aquarium use. This way, everyone will pay the carib sea price.(alot more than $3.50 for 50 lbs)

If you are concerned about metal getting into the tank with your sand, run a strong magnet over the sand before you put it in your tank.

HTH
b

 

[Toadally1]

I heard the same thing...

 

[yznhmr]

I talked to someone who knows the owners of carab sea, and this person told me carab sea DOES not buy from the same place SD gets their sand from.. but i will try the magnet thing..

Any one else, with experience???
I did read the thread posted above before i got my sand..

 

[MattM]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by yznhmr:
<STRONG>I talked to someone who knows the owners of carab sea, and this person told me carab sea DOES not buy from the same place SD gets their sand from..</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

It's a popular rumor.

I do beleive that ESV oolitic sand and Southdown are the same sand, but the none of the CaribSea grades exactly matches the Southdown.

As far as rust or other foriegn matter, we've seen rougly the same level in all brands. You can find things by passing a magnet through CaribSea as well. Hell, we even found a .22 shell in a bag of CaribSea Aruba Shell once!

The equipment used to crush and sort the sand is generally incredibly rusty, so keeping all of the particles out is virtually impossible. We've never noted any harmful effects from this however.

I wouldn't loose any sleep over this one - There are plenty of other things to worry about!

 

[95galReef]

I've been having a battle with red slime ever since I added SD, It's only on the sand too which I think is funny.

 

[Anonymous]

me too, funny coincidence.

 

[yznhmr]

red slime...hmmmmm ok now im worried.. how long have your tanks been up with SD

 

[whirley]

Well, I'd assume that red slime is because the sand is cycling...

whirley

 

[-JB]

My tank is 4 months old using 250lbs of SD sand. After some new tank diatoms my sand for the most part is now white, no algae blooms. I wouldn't worry.

 

[fishfarmer]

I've been battling a green cyano bloom on my sump bed of southdown. The sump was installed last October. The battle is almost over, brittle stars and other critters are taking over and calerpa is taking hold. I also upgraded my skimmer and siphoned the cyano during every water change.

[ August 13, 2001: Message edited by: fishfarmer ]

 

[fnj]

My main tank has been set up for 13 months now with 250lbs. of SD. Never had any problems with cyano, red slime, or anything else growing on the sand. The key is to have the sand bed contain as much life as possible.

I have another 300lbs. of SD ready to go into my refugium as well. I wouldn't worry about it at all.

 

[kjb]

FWIW Rob Toonen's article http://www.reefs.org/library/article/r_toonen23.html
evaluating particle size [and content, to a degree] of Southdown sand does not mention anything I would consider bad about the sand.

 

[EmilyB]

I believe Rob's article was before the environmental lawsuits against Southdown started. At least, I would hope so.

I still can't believe people wanted to get a cheap deal and kept dealing with these people after the environmental issues were exposed. Have confidence now, they have changed their name, so you won't know them, and they claim environmental friendliness, well, at least until their first law suit.

But, they prey upon those who want to save that dime...

 

[Stars360]

What enviromental lawsuits.....

anysays i have used sounthdown in my refugium w/ no problems whatsoever i did however have a problem of not having enough fauna in my sandbed so i was getting cyano blooms once i added some critters to my bed, problem solved... and i have not seen cyano since..just my .02

 

[yznhmr]

any one else that has had thier tank up a while with SD?

 

[SPC]

Thanks Emily and Matt for making us aware of this situation.
Steve

 

[Anonymous]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by yznhmr:
<STRONG>any one else that has had thier tank up a while with SD?</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes we have multiple systems that were set up with Southdown and the cyano issue IMO is not related.

Most new tanks are going to experience cyano blooms and cyano by default will have a tendency to appear on the sand.

 

[myaquarium]

Makes me glad I used CaribSea!

-Andy

 

[danmhippo]

Even if you use Carib-Sea packaged live sand, I have seen tanks setup with it still end up with a period of cyno bloom. Although claimed that packaged live sand grains are already coated with bacteria, when the newly introduced sand gets to a new environment, it is not uncommon for the subtrate to go thru another cycle period before it is finally break-in.

If the sand was sprinkled in layers and layers gradually build up to the desired depth, cyno bloom may not develope. However, almost no one will take that route. JME